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Northern Chinese Cabbage Dumplings (Zhurou Baicai Jiaozi) Boiled the Beijing Way

Northern Chinese Cabbage Dumplings

These are the boiled dumplings northern families wrap by the hundred before New Year's Eve: hand-rolled wheat wrappers, thick in the middle so they survive the pot, around a filling of fatty pork and finely chopped napa cabbage. The cabbage is salted and wrung dry, the pork stirred one direction until sticky, and the dumplings boiled with three splashes of cold water until taut and translucent.
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Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes
Servings: 4 People
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese
Calories: 610
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour about 14 oz, plus more for dusting
  • 1 cup cold water plus 1 to 2 tbsp as needed
  • 1.5 lb napa cabbage about half a medium head
  • 1.5 tsp salt for drawing water from the cabbage
  • 1 lb ground pork 20 to 30 percent fat, or hand-chopped pork belly and shoulder
  • 1 tbsp fresh ginger finely minced
  • 4 scallions finely chopped, white and green parts
  • 2 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 0.5 tsp ground white pepper
  • 0.5 tsp sugar
  • 0.75 tsp salt for the filling, to taste
  • 6 tbsp cold water for beating into the pork, or dried shiitake soaking liquid
  • 4 dried shiitake mushrooms optional, soaked in warm water 30 minutes and finely chopped

Equipment

  • 1 Large mixing bowl for the dough
  • 1 Colander for salting the cabbage
  • 1 Rolling Pin short wooden dowel pin if you have one
  • 1 large stockpot at least 6 quarts
  • 1 Slotted spoon
  • 2 baking sheets dusted with flour, for the wrapped dumplings

Method
 

  1. Put the flour in a large bowl. Pour in 1 cup cold water in a steady stream while stirring with chopsticks or your fingers until the flour gathers into shaggy lumps. Add another tablespoon or two of water only if dry flour remains at the bottom.
  2. Knead the dough on an unfloured counter for 8 to 10 minutes, until it is smooth, firm and no longer tacky. It should feel stiffer than bread dough. Cover the bowl with a damp towel or plastic wrap and rest at room temperature at least 30 minutes, up to 1 hour.
  3. While the dough rests, halve the napa cabbage lengthwise, cut out the dense core, slice the leaves into fine shreds, then chop the shreds very finely until the pieces are no bigger than a grain of rice. Toss in a colander with 1.5 tsp salt and leave 20 minutes over a bowl or the sink.
  4. Take the cabbage up by the handful and squeeze hard, wringing out as much liquid as you can. Keep squeezing until no more water comes out. You should end up with a tight, barely damp mass of about 1 cup. Loosen it with your fingers and set aside.
  5. Put the ground pork in a bowl with the ginger, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, white pepper, sugar and 0.75 tsp salt. Stir vigorously in one direction only with chopsticks or a wooden spoon for 2 minutes.
  6. Still stirring in the same direction, add the 6 tbsp cold water or shiitake soaking liquid a splash at a time, letting the meat absorb each addition before the next. Keep going 3 to 5 minutes until the pork turns pale, sticky and holds together as a cohesive paste.
  7. Fold the squeezed cabbage, the scallions and the chopped shiitake if using into the pork, stirring in the same direction just until evenly combined. Cover and refrigerate while you roll the wrappers.
  8. Divide the rested dough in half. Roll each half into a rope about 1 inch thick, then cut crosswise into pieces about 0.75 inch long, roughly 40 to 44 pieces total. Keep them under a towel and press each into a small disc with your palm.
  9. Roll each disc into a round about 3.5 inches across, pressing down and out with the pin while turning the dough with your other hand. Work the rim thinner than the center so the base survives boiling. Dust lightly with flour only if the dough sticks.
  10. Hold a wrapper in your cupped palm and place about 1 tablespoon of filling in the center. Fold into a half-moon and press the edges together firmly from the middle outward, pleating the front edge if you like, squeezing out all air. Set the finished dumplings on a floured tray, not touching.
  11. Bring a large stockpot of water to a vigorous boil. Slide in half the dumplings, nudging them gently with the back of a slotted spoon so they do not stick to the bottom or each other.
  12. When the water returns to a full boil, splash in about 1 cup of cold water. Repeat twice more as the pot comes back to a boil, three splashes in all. The dumplings are done when they float, the skins look taut and translucent and the filling is firm, 6 to 10 minutes total.
  13. Lift the dumplings out with a slotted spoon, letting them drain, and serve immediately while the second batch cooks. Reserve a little of the starchy cooking water to sip at the end of the meal.

Notes

  • Serve with Chinkiang black rice vinegar on its own, or vinegar with a little light soy sauce and slivered ginger. In the Northeast the dip is crushed raw garlic, and whole raw garlic cloves are eaten between dumplings in Shandong.
  • Ladle some of the starchy cooking water into small bowls and sip it at the end of the meal.
  • Do not skip salting and squeezing the cabbage. Wet cabbage makes a filling that leaks and tears the wrappers.
  • Use pork with 20 to 30 percent fat. Lean pork gives a dry, crumbly filling.
  • To freeze, set the raw dumplings apart on a floured tray, freeze solid, then bag them. Boil from frozen, adding 2 to 3 minutes.
  • Next-day leftovers are traditionally pan-fried as guotie in a little oil until the bottoms are crisp.
  • These are the staple of the meal. Do not serve rice alongside.